Ours is, after all, a nation of laws, right? We value justice and we believe everyone has a right to have their day in court. Right? But what if the court is turned into a loony bin and the law itself becomes a mockery of justice? Welcome to the federal immigration courts struggling to deal […]
Editor’s Note
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s Note 07/19/18
While the current president was flummoxing over pushback from his lovefest with Vladimir Putin, former president Barack Obama was in South Africa lecturing about how truth is now up for debate and how politicians stand by baseless claims after they’re proved wrong. “We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders, where they’re caught […]
Posted inOpinion
The New York Times strikes out
For more than a century, The New York Times has unabashedly bragged in a banner slogan that it publishes “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” Really? Then why did this prestigious publication waste so much paper and ink on a June 25 front-page article about Bernie Sanders that was demonstrably untrue, not news and […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 7/12/18
The restored Governor’s Mansion opens to the public Saturday, along with the new Jackson Street Trail and its Bicentennial Plaza. The mansion renovation is a fine gift to Springfield from Gov. Bruce Rauner. Illinois Realtors and their executive, Gary Clayton, joined the magnanimity by adding Bicentennial Plaza. Mayor Jim Langfelder and city government did its […]
Posted inOpinion
A wall won’t fix immigration
The wailing in our country about the “invasion of immigrants” has been long and loud. As one complainant put it, “Few of their children in the country learn English … The signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages … Unless the stream of the importation could be turned they will soon so outnumber […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 7/5/18
Illinois continues its longstanding practice of giving shabby treatment to nursing homes. This week the Associated Press reported that for-profit nursing homes are having to front $300 million in Medicaid costs while the state blames its computers for a huge backlog in determining eligibility. Now comes news that a 113-year-old church-supported nonprofit, the 98-bed Pleasant […]
Posted inOpinion
What do those people want?
Where is the Democratic Party? The Party of the People is stuck in the status quo – the still reigning, old-line hierarchy of the Democratic Party is unwilling to just be dedicated to, well, to the democratic interests of its own political base. While Republicans are a wholly-owned corporate subsidiary, unabashedly dedicated to the narrow […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 6/28/18
AFSCME Council 31 called the U. S. Supreme Court ruling against the union a “blatant political attack,” while the Illinois Policy Institute, crowing over its victory, called the unions “inherently political,” as though IPI is not. In fact, one of the groups supporting the suit said its purpose was to “defund” the labor movement nationwide. […]
Posted inOpinion
Keep resisting
From the revolutionaries of the 1770s to today’s grassroots rebels engaged in multiple struggles for democratic rights, every inch of progress has been vehemently opposed by entrenched enemies of change. Invariably, the upstart activists of democracy movements find themselves trivialized as unworthy and uppity by elite protectors of the status quo. “What is it those […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 6/21/18
“Don’t call my business small,” was the common sentiment given voice at the Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards program this week. As 37 businesses were recognized and five of those were chosen as “owner of the year” in different categories, those in the Crowne Plaza dining room identified with how all these businesses loom […]
Posted inOpinion
How bad public policy happens
Question: If you inject a stream of raw ignorance into a vat of gaseous arrogance, then jolt the mixture with 1,000 megawatts of malevolence … what does it produce? Answer: Donald Trump’s executive order of April 12. Let’s start with the arrogance. Donald the First has been in a deep pout over negative articles about him […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s Note 06/14/18
It is tempting to applaud President Trump for ignoring diplomatic niceties in order to engage the North Korean leader in an effort at peacemaking. Just go talk to the guy, what can it hurt? We can hope that it not only won’t hurt but will help. At least as long as they’re talking they’re not […]
